Control 24, 002, ADA8000, Focusrite Penta -- Shootout help

[sbadolian]

I have a Control 24, Digi 002, Focusrite Penta, and ADA 8000 (yeah, no cash).
Have any of you experimented with the various connections and how they sound?
What are all of you out there doing? Am I doing something wrong?

Here are my findings with a Rode NT1/Mogami Cable.

Control24-->Digi002/TRS = Not as crispy highs as 002 but very fat/compressor sounding.
Control24-->ADA8000/TRS-->002/Lightpipe = sounds dull to me, no punch, a little grainy.
Digi 002--> I thought this sounded pretty clean and balanced.
ADA8000-->Digi002/Lightpipe = Grainy, dull, lifeless.
Focusrite-->Digi002/TRS = Clean, bright, and full. (Comp OFF). I think much better than just the raw 002.

I think the gain control on the ADA is the factor that's killing me, where do you guys keep them?
I was at about 12 oclock or so... I have samples if anyone cares.

[Blue Bear Sound]

The whole question is rather bizarre - why are you using a $10k controller with $200 garbage converters??????

Running through cheap converters would make an AKG C12 thru a GML pre (a $12K+ chain) sound like crap!

With the digital audio, the thing that ultimately counts is the converter quality.... it doesn't matter if your front end and monitoring chain are supremely glorious if the digital conversion that's happening is garbage -- kind of along the lines of putting a ferrari engine in a Yugo.

Your first step is getting GOOD converters.... after that, you need a good pre... the focusrite platinum stuff is pretty poor, NOTHING at all like the real focursite (high-end) stuff.

[Qetzacoatl]

The converters on the ADA8000 are fine, in fact on gearslutz ( a pro site) most people chose the ADA8000 as sounding more pleasing than the Lynx Aurora in a blind test, and these are guys that do this to a very high level. The converters used in the ADA8000 are the same as the ones used in RME products - if you're getting a bad sound with the ADA8000 then you shouldn't really be looking at the converter as the source of the blame. But you don't want to be ramping the gain up too much either - I use mine only for the DA and it's excellent, I was using it before with my synth's 8 outs going in, never needed to ramp it up much past 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock was perfectly fine too though.
Try not to let your perception of the unit's worth colour your judgement!
It seems most people using it for the preamps do so with drums where they don't need to apply much if any additional gain, I never used mine with a mic, I think the trick is to keep the gain low as you can't bypass the preamps even going in the line input.
If you just use it for conversion, you shouldn't have any complaints at all, and if using it just for DA, then it can perform jsut as well as anything else out there costing many times the price.

You might want to try clocking your 002 from the ADA8000, it has an exellent clock, and a lot of people have reported improvement in the sound of the digi when clocked externally to the ADA8000, believe it or not.

I would be suspicious of anyone who just automatically looks down on a piece of gear because of the brand/price, especially when there have been so many good professional reviews of the unit - when Paul White reviewed it in SoundOnSound, he liked it so much he went and bought one. So go figure.

[Blue Bear Sound]

The converters on the ADA8000 are fine

Then you need better ears, or a more revealing monitoring chain... or both.

[TKMJ Productions]

I would be suspicious of anyone who just automatically looks down on a piece of gear because of the brand/price, especially when there have been so many good professional reviews of the unit - when Paul White reviewed it in SoundOnSound, he liked it so much he went and bought one. So go figure.

sorry qetz but the bear is right on this one too. i am a big fan of behringer gear and own many pieces that are wonderful. but the ada8000 is a low attempt at making quality sound conversions to digital. i use to own one and found it just about useless compaired to motu or apogee gear. i would even rate m-audio gear over the ada8000. if you are playing with audio the ada8000 is fine. if you are serious the ada8000 makes a great doorstop.